The Forges
by emtyler01
Summary: After the war with Gaia, most people returned to camp. They tried to forget the war. And most of them did. But Serena couldn't. It's hard to forget when your reminded of it every night. The war haunts her still. Most people she can hide it from, but there are some she can't fool. Her friends try to help her, but they don't understand. Maybe a certain son of Hephaestus will.
1. Chapter 1

The Forges

Dreams

Everyone else tried to forget. And they succeeded. I tried to forget. And I failed. But it's hard to forget something when you are reminded of it every night. Every night I walk into my cabin, get in my pajamas, climb into my bunk, and think of happy things. Annabeth explaining architecture, Percy riding a Hippocamus, Piper using her charmspeak to prank Jason. But it never fails. No matter what I think of, I dream about the war.

I remember the fighting, I remember Gaias army chasing us, I remember the demigods fighting for their lives. Every night I dream of the war. And tonight is no exception.

"Serena, you take that one I'll take this one" Annabeth panted.

" Got it"" I replied. I dashed obver to a gorgon and slashed at its leg. Blood flowed out of the wound. The gorgon yowled in fury and gave me a death glare. It raised its claws and slashed at me. As it's arm came down, my blade went up and chopped of its hand. I twisted as it lunged at me. I ducked under the gorgon and plunged my blade into the monsters back. The monster quickly turned to dust. I studied the battlefield looking for my next target. I soon spot Piper being cornered by two monsters.

"Piper" I scream. I sprint over to her and dispose of one of the monsters as she takes care of the other one. "Are you ok?" I gasp when I notice the blood she's covered in. She looks down at herself and quickly reassures me, "Oh it's not my blood"

"Ok" I pant. We both advance further inward disposing of monsters when were able to. We work as a team. One of use destracting a monster and one of us killing it. We finally reach where all of the action is happening when I hear my name.

"Serena!" someone screams. "Serena!" I frantically look around. Nobody is calling my name. "Serena!"

I am suddenly jolted out of my nightmare and I open my eyes to my cabin.

"Serena!" Someone shouts and bangs on the door. "Open up, it's Annabeth!" I jump out of bed and survey the room. I am the only one in here. I start towards the door and notice that I am covered in sweat. I open the door to a very annoyed looking Annabeth. "Where have you been!" she asks, "You missed breakfest"

"Wait, what time is it?"

"It's 11:30" she answers

"Are you serious" I groan I walk towards the mirror and gesture for Annabeth to come in.

" Totally" I stop by the mirror and take a look at myself. My long, brown hair is in a messy bun while my chocolate brown eyes have dark circles under them. I look like I just came from battle, which technically I just did.

"After breakfest, Piper had me come check up on you" Annabeth updates me. "Get dressed, were going to go meet her for training"

"Ok" I sigh

"We're you having another nightmare?" Annabeth asks. Unlike most other people she understands my nightmares and tries to help. Her and Piper are the only people who do.

"What do you think?" I grumble.

"Have you tried asking Apollo, your father?"

"I try everyday, but it's not working"

"Well training might help, so hurry up!" She pesters me.

"Yea, yea, yea" I say with a smile. I throw on a pair of shorts and my orange camp t-shirt. I lace up my sneakers and grab my magical, transforming bracelet and I walk out the door.

"Come on Annabeth, we don't want to be late!" I say in a cheerful voice.

"I'm coming, I'm coming" she says as she walks put the door. We walk past the forges and I see the Hephaestus kids working. I spot Leo as he looks up at me. I wave and smile. He waves back. We reach the training area and I see the Ares kids already hard at work.

"Training will help clear your mind" Annabeth tells me.

" I hope so" I reply

Hey guys, this is my first fanfic so I'm sorry that it was really bad. It'll get better I promise! I'll update when I'm able too. Please review and tell me what you think of it. Like I said, it's my fist fanfic I I apologize that it was horrible.

Thanks  
Erin


	2. Practice Makes Perfect

Practice makes Perfect As we walk into the training area I see Clarisse finish spearing a dummy through its stomach. She was covered in sweat. Of course, she must have been here since the crack of dawn. My heart seems to lift when I spot Percy and Piper sparring over in the corner.

"Hey Pipes" I say as me and Annabeth walk over. She turns and smiles.

"Hey sleepyhead, glad your awake, we were getting worried" she says with a big smile. "

Yea" Percy grins. "We were about to get Chiron, we were worried Gaias followers had come and abducted you".

My smile quickly turns to a frown when he makes that comment. He notices too and realizes his mistake. "Oh, I'm sorry, Serena, you know what I meant"

"It's fine" I quickly cover. But it's really not. Only a few people know about my dreams. Percy, Annabeth, Piper, and Jason are the only people. Annabeth, Piper, and Percy know because there my best friends. Jason knows because after the war with Gaia, before the camp was repaired, me and him were on night patrol and we took a rest and I accidently fell asleep, I had my usual nightmares and he woke me up. So naturally, I told him my problem. They are the only people I trust so they are the only ones that know.

"Well," Piper starts " Why don't we start". I ripped of a sun charm from my bracelt and it turned into a 3 1/2 foot celestial bronze sword with a sun design on it. I swing it around, getting a feel for it. I turn back to my friends and ask

"Who's pairing up with who?"

"I'll go with Piper, and Percy goes with Serena" Annabeth decides

"You don't want to go with me?" Asks Percy, who sounded a little hurt.

Annabeth laughs and replied,

"We'll switch of eventually of it makes you feel better"

"It makes me feel a little better" Percy consented, a smile creeping onto his face.

"What, you don't want to go with me?!" I teased.

"No-it's just-I thought- Ugh!" Me, Annabeth and Piper all laugh.

"It's all right, I'm just teasing!" I laugh. Piper moves over to a spot and I move to another. Annabeth goes over to Percy and gives him a kiss.

"Good luck, Seaweed Brain" She then walks over to Piper and they start. Percy walks over to me and uncaps Riptide.

"Your going down Serena" he says with a grin.

"Not if I can help it"

"Don't worry, I'll go easy on you" Percy informs me.

"Aww! How sweet of you!" I coo. Suddenly I leap and twist, bringing my sword down on him. He rolls out of the way and prepares himself. We circle each other, both of us smiling, waiting for someone to make a move. Percy moves first. He dashes in front of me and and tries to poke me in the stomach. I parry and twist put of the way. Our swords clash as we attack each other. This goes on for about fifteen minutes before Annabeth comes over and breaks us up. By that time we are both drenched in sweat but neither one of us has a scratch.

"Nice job Serena" Percy pants.

"You too Percy" I say. Piper comes over and congratulates us both.

"Great job you guys. Annabeth killed me about five minutes ago so we've been watching you guys" she says.

"Piper, where's Jason?" I ask.

"Oh he's helping with the Pegasus's today. He said he'd come over soon with Leo though. I wonder where he is?" she informed me.

"He'll be here soon" Annabeth says. "Now why don't we switch partners and start again"

"Ugh" Me and Percy groan.

"Or we could take a break" Annabeth suggests. We went and sat down on the grass outside of the arena. We talked about the mortal world. About our families. About life. It wasn't long before Jason and Leo walked up.

"Hey guys" Jason greets us. He looks at Piper and his eyes widen.

"What did you do to Piper?" He gasps. We all turn and look at Piper and start laughing. She is curled up in a ball and her eyes are closed. She is fast asleep.

"We didn't do anything to her, she was exhausted after training" Percy reassures him.

"You know," Leo starts "she kind of looks like a pig when she sleeps". I don't know why, but I burst out laughing and everybody else looks at Leo. Jason is the first to react.

"Shut up Leo!" he exclaims "She's my girlfriend! She has a cute way of sleeping!" Jason insists.

"Her nostrils flare Jason" Leo grins

"So, that's cute!"

"Shh!" I quiet everyone. I lean over and start whispering to Piper. "Piper time to get up"

"No! I don't wanna go to school" she starts whining, her eyes still closed.

"Well you have to" I say sternly. "Out of bed or I'll pull you out by your hair" Her eyes fly open,

"But no, you can't-" she stops. "Did you guys seriously just do that to me?" She asks

"Yep" I laugh. "Come on Pipes, let's go to lunch" Jason pulls her up and gives her a kiss. We all get up and start towards lunch. Jason gives us a full description of his day. When we all get tired of listening to him Piper tells him. "Jason, let's just all be quiet and enjoy the beautiful day" The rest of our walk is silent.


	3. Chapter 3

Family

When we finally reach the dining hall everybody else is already digging into dinner. We all say goodbye to each other and make plans to go to the feild after dinner. Annabeth goes to the Athena table and greets her siblings, Piper goes to the Aphrodite table and grabs a plate, and Leo saunters over to the Hephaestus table and makes a joke. The only sad thing is the Zeus and Poseidon tables. They're both empty.

Percy walks over an sits down while me and Annabeth give him sympathetic glances. The good thing is that Tyson is supposed to be coming from Poseidons realm tomorrow so he won't be alone tomorrow. But Jason is not so lucky.

His sister, Thalia, is almost never here so he is almost always alone. I have never really liked the table seating arrangements. I always thought that we should be able to sit where we want, with our friends. Whenever Nico is here he has to sit alone too. But then again, even if we could sit where we wanted to he still might sit alone.

I walk over to the Apollo table and I am immediately greeted by my siblings.

"Hey!" a boy with dirty blonde hair that fell in waves over his head called. He swung his legs over the bench and walked up to me. "How's our head of Apollo cabin?" He asks.

"Fine Aaron" I sigh.

"You don't sound fine" he remarks.

"I'm just tired" I reply.

"Well we figured that, you know, seeing as you didn't show up for breakfest and lunch and slept till 11:30" he says with a big smile. "Well come on, I'm sure you haven't eaten all day" he says gesturing towards his seat.

"Actually, Aaron, I told Lily that I'd sit with her today" I say apologetically.

"Ok" Aaron says unfazed. He walks over to his seat and I walk over to a girl with blonde-brown hair and sit down.

"Hey Lily" I greet.

"Hey Serena" she replies. I am served a plate of hamburger and fries as we talk about our days.

"I had Pegasus training today. Blackjack did the cutest thing! He reared up and-" she stops.

"And what?" I ask looking up from my meal. I find her staring across the hall at the Hephaestus table. I follow her gaze and see she is looking at one certain boy.

Leo.

And he is staring right at me. When I meet his eyes he looks away immediately. Lily looks back at me with smirk on her face.

"Well looks like someone has a secret admirer" she teases. "Only it looks like it's not so secret anymore" she laughs with a huge smile on her face. "I can see it now!" She giggles. "The head of the Apollo cabin and the head of the Hephaestus cabin!"

"Oh shut up!"

"I totally need to think of a ship name for you guys" she laughs. A few people look over at us.

"Lily, shut up! Leo and I are just friends"

"Maybe a bit more than friends now!" She giggles. She starts to laugh hysterically which earns us a few looks from other tables, not to mention the whole Apollo table looking at us. I can feel the heat rising to my cheeks as they stare.

"I never knew you liked guys like him!" She says in between laughs.

"What do you mean 'guys like him'?" I ask.

"Oh I don't know. Just guys like him."

"Me and him are just friends. In fact, me, him, Annabeth, Piper, Jason, and Percy are all going to the feild tonight."

"To do what?! Be alone!" She breaks into more laughter.

"You know what. I just lost my appetite." I announce which just earns more laughter from her. "Your impossible" I inform her as I get up from the table and grab my plate. I walk over to the fire and scrape the remainder of my meal into the fire. I close my eyes and make a prayer to my dad as the smoke rises into the night sky.

"Please Apollo, help me. My dreams are getting worse every night and I don't know what to do. Please help me." As I finish my prayer I open my eyes to Annabeth scraping her food into the leaping flames. She closes her eyes for a few seconds and when she opens them she looks at me.

"Your finished early" she observes.

"So did you"

"I wasn't that hungry" she explains.

"Well I lost my appetite when my sister started teasing me about my love life" I inform her. Her eyes suddenly become curious.

"Who was she teasing you about?" Her voice has taken on that tone that she gets when she wants to know something. It happens with all of the Athena kids.

"I'll tell you later" I promise. "It's complicated".

"Fine" she relents. "Are you heading to the feild now?"

"No. I was going to go back to my cabin for a few minutes"

"Same here. I wanted to get a few things before I see Percy" she tells me.

"So you and him are really getting serious" I say. She blushes a little.

"Yea"

"That's good. You two were made for each other" I say as she smiles.

"You really think so?"

"Believe me. I have never seen two people more perfect for each other than you and him"I assure her. "You've got the brains, and he's got the brawns"

"Thanks" she sighs. "Oh, make sure you grab a blanket for the feild. It'll be cold"

"Got it". I start to walk away.

"Oh and Serena, whatever you do, don't mention your sister teasing you to Piper. She may not be a girly girl, but she's got Aphrodite in her and she'll want to know everything" Annabeth says with a smile.

"Don't worry. I won't". As I walk back to my cabin, I think about Leo. Sure, he's funny, sweet, nice, and maybe a bit cute, but were just friends, right? I am so absorbed in my thoughts that I run straight into a tree.

"Seriously Serena, snap out of it" I say out loud. I reach my cabin and walk inside. I walk over to a dresser and look at myself. I assess my messy brown hair and grab a hair brush. Once I've worked all of the knots and tangles I throw it up into a messy bun. I then grab some mascara and apply it to my upper eyelashes. I'm not a girly girl, but I wear mascara. When I finish I throw on a maroon sweatshirt and black yoga pants. I walk over to my bed and grab a red blanket. I fold it and tuck it under my arm.

I walk out the door and make my way to the feild. By the time I get there it's dark. I sit down a few feet away from a big rock and wait for everyone else to arrive. Piper and Jason are the first too. They walk up, arm in arm, looking at the sky. Jason carries an electric blue blanket, probably for the both of them.

"Hey Serena" Piper greets me.

"Hey Pipes" I reply. They sit down next to me and Jason wraps the blanket around them. The next person to walk up is Annabeth who sits down next to Piper and Jason. She takes out a red blanket with an owl on the front of it. Soon Percy walks up, carrying nothing.

"Didn't you bring a blanket?" Annabeth asks him.

"No" he replies. "Was I supposed too?"

"Yes Seaweed Brain!"

"What! You never told me!" He argues.

"I thought it was implied! I said 'hey it's gonna be cold tonight, especially on the field where there are no trees to block the wind!'" Annabeth explains.

"See," I say to her. "You've got the brains, he's got the brawns" I shrug.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Percy asks.

"Nothing Seaweed Brain". Percy looks at Annabeth pleadingly and she relents. "Come on, you can share with me". They snuggle up, the blanket around both of them. Finally, Leo comes, not carrying a blanket.

"Wait, was I supposed to bring a blanket?" He asks.

"Yea Leo! How did you not know that! I thought it was implied" Percy says.

"Oh shut up" Annabeth tells him. "You didn't bring one either". Leo looks around while everyone looks at me expectantly.

"What?" I say. "I'm not sharing with him!"

"Fine, I'll freeze." Leo announces. He sits down next to me and I can't help but notice how close he is to me. We all look at the stars and the moon. I soon notice Pipers gentle snore and I see that her and Jason have both fallen asleep. I look over at Annabeth and Percy and I see they have fallen asleep as well. Leo and I are the only ones awake. I soon feel my eyelids start to droop and I notice how heavy they feel.

"Just for a moment. I'll only close then for a moment" I tell myself. I close my eyes and before I know it I am pulled into darkness.

I start to wake up to the light filtering through my eyelids. It's awfully bright. It's not usually bright in the cabin. And then I notice. I didn't have any nightmares. I didnt even have any dreams! I sigh with relief. I start to notice how hot it is. The cabin is usually a lot cooler. My head is resting on something firm but very comfortable. Something is resting on my shoulders. Something heavy. But it feels right. I wiggle around a bit trying to get comfortable. All of a sudden I hear a familiar voice.

"I told you Aaron. They just couldn't stay away from each other. There soul mates!"

What? Who? And then I remember last night. I never went back to my cabin. Nobody went back to there cabin. We all fell asleep. I open my eyes and what I see, is not pretty.

- I'll try to update soon. Please review. Next chapter will have some action!

Thanks,

Erin


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